Lit Palpatine and the Ghost Prison Incident: Foreseen?

Gentis's rebellion in the Ghost Prison comic is extremely well-planned and results in Palpatine being mortally injured. The Emperor and Vader actually have to flee Coruscant with just a couple loyal officers and Palpatine is near death. Is it possible that Sidious foresaw this entire incident and used it as a test to weed out the unfaithful in the Empire?

Or, did Headmaster Gentis do what Mace and Yoda couldn't, and come within an inch of actually killing the greatest Dark Lord of the Sith in history?

 

Probably the latter.

There is the temptation to treat the Emperor as omniscient and he has certainly been known to gamble with his own life more than once. But I really don't think he'd go so far to be made that vulnerable-- poisoned and comatose-- in order to cull the Empire's ranks.

 

Gentis is one man... who knows who had helped him? this comic will see some retcons of others involved, other insurrections tied to this one etc. I bet to enlarge it and have it make more sense.

 

That would make more sense.

 

In the fanfic that is lingering in my signature, I proffered the following explanation: that a major player in Gentis' conspiracy, the person procuring and using the Aorth-6 pathogen, was invisible to the Force and therefore undetected by Palpatine. Since there are a number of ways to achieve this: and in particular the taozin-scale method was common at the time based on the Cosucant Nights works, I feel this is a reasonable way to explain it.

I think it is very much unreasonable to assume that Palpatine set the whole thing up. After all, it's not just that Aorth-6 almost kills him, but if Trachta isn't in the Throne Room when Gentis launches the pathogen, and Trachta doesn't have cybernetic lungs and therefore immunity, Gentis simply shoots the dying Emperor in the face and wins. Considering that Trachta will ultimately go on to try and kill Palpatine himself that would seem to put the kibosh on any 'test of loyalty' theory.

 

Palpatine also spouted "everything has proceeded as I planned" in RotJ and what happened? Yes, he got killed. Dear ol' Sidious is simply not as omniscient and omnipotent as he thinks he is.

 

Just wanna say I loved that arc. I think Palps simply overlooked it and messed up. I don't think he planned it or allowed it to happen.

 

I just read this comic for the first time and I got to say I loved it(I also picked up Darth Vader and the Lost Command at the same time). Palps is not infallible. Vader is shown to be what we thought he was before the prequels. The suffer no rivals moment was chilling and it was great to see three men all handicapped in some use their handicaps to there advantage to save the Emperor. Gentis was kinda dumb forgetting that the posion would not work on either Vader or Trachta.

 

Gentis knew Vader wouldn't be affected, that's why Vader wasn't with the Emperor. Trachta, on the other hand, Gentis simply didn't expect to be present - after all, neither did Vader when he arrived. That was either pure chance or the will of the dark side of the Force protecting Palpatine. Frankly, the latter makes for a more epic explanation.

 

While I dislike ascribing complete omnipotence to His Majesty, the fact that this question is being asked says a lot about the sheer intricacy of many of Palpatine's plots and the perception of him as an omnipotent schemer responsible for everything that happens anywhere in the galaxy at any given time. I'd love to see a future source where Imperial propagandists claim that the whole coup was planned by Palpatine to weed out dissenters, even though I personally doubt that was the case.

 

Or official fan-TROUSERS of the character. When is Palpatine ever written in an interesting and engaging way? Rarely. There's only two things they let him do: Scheme and utterly annihilate enemies.

 

I personally thought that the Palpatine of Wild Space worked. Also, Darth Plagueis struck a good balance- by showing him, at least early on- as Plagueis's victim and student.

 

Yep, Darth Plagueis worked. Though I don't buy his claim that he was responsible for all of Plagueis political plans. Typical Palpatine arrogance, that.

 

Very often. You just don't like the character.

 

He doesn't bother me in the movies though.

 

It's all subjective, really. It comes down to tastes and preference. You like Vader a lot and the fact that Palpatine is stronger, smarter, and more accomplished than Vader might not sit well with you.

But for what it's worth, while he doesn't enjoy the same widespread popularity as Vader or Maul, Palpatine is considered a redeeming element to Star Wars. Consider that Red Letter Media, of all people, cites him as a positive factor of the prequels (as do most critics, actually). Or consider the extreme acclaim and anticipation surrounding "The Lawless" episode of The Clone Wars. Etc. and so forth.


That the character is written as extremely powerful isn't really a problem since we know his story ends in abject defeat. Not to mention that, as the villain, he should be in a position of tremendous advantage.

 

I agree with RLM. Palpatine was entertaining in the prequels. He is a worthy character of the saga. But one part of what makes the saga Palpatine interesting to me is the fact that for all his dark power he still has some human frailty (just like Vader). Vader, the evil sorcerer that can't do one of the most basic human things (breathe). Palpatine, also an evil sorcerer, but old and a man who begins to believe his own lies about omnipotence... I like the conflict and contradictions in these villains. But sadly in the EU many authors took his boasting as gospel and turned him into evil force god, a far less interesting and dare I say it much more simplistic villain. I miss the pathos that once was a part of the package that is Palpatine. There is also little struggle in his battle nowadays. Most of the time his total and 100% victory is a foregone conclusion. And why care about anyone going up against Palpatine? In the end they are going to be crushed and killed anyway.

As for him being smarter than Vader I beg to differ, obviously. His accomplishments are so-so, because while he was great when it came to amass power, he wasn't good at keeping it. The rebellion wouldn't have grown as powerful if it weren't for sillyness like the Death Star.

 

I raise you a first Vong advance scout to match Outbound Flight having Palpatine foresee and prepare for the Vong.

 

Palpatine couldn't foresee the Yuuzhan Vong in the Force, which is why he had no details on their abilities. What he could foresee were their potential impacts. Considering that said potential was more or less the destruction of all life in the galaxy it's actually far more surprising that the invasion wasn't foreseen by everyone.

 

I would be surprised if Palpatine hadn't had some sort of inkling of danger or plotting -- he's the most powerful Force user of all time and given to meditation on the future and presumably to searching out danger -- but not every threat is going to be so clearly and conclusively revealed to him that he can prevent it. That's simply not how the Force works.